Join the new world

If you aren't aware, it seems it's that time again. Hospital talk is in the air. I have a sick love with this debate (in addition to being something worth talking about, I think it makes citizens more aware of how the game works, at least it did for me) so you know I'm going to weigh in on things. Or at least throw a bit of meat to the wolves. I think we've seen most of the numbers and arguments before. It seems we could be wise to look at infrastructure, not with an in-game defense and wellness mindset, but with the idea that infrastructure is retention tool. I don't think we've seen this:


The RL populations of the US states.

One of the least populous, New Mexico, has some 2,000,000 citizens. Two million people. I know we already have growth and retention efforts, but it quickly becomes apparent that a tiny fraction of that population, if they joined and stayed in their RL state, would make that state a fortress. That goes for just about every US state. That would be incredibly awesome. It's not going to happen, but one can dream, and if we did manage to bring in 5,000 to 10,000 citizens to every state our population would supernova to 250-500,000.

Aeros also made an argument about retention efforts and how hospitals in all states could assist with that. I believe this to be true. Even if players still don't know how to fight properly to keep wellness up, just the fact that they would be able to do so from anywhere and not be told to move should help matters. We may argue about costs of that infrastructure, but if we are not going to be attacked and don't have to worry about retreating from potential blocking attacks (the eUK is currently under attack) then we really need to consider that our population and potential growth is infinitely more valuable than our infrastructure. I don't pretend we aren't already strapped for cash with our war efforts (though McFarland allows us to push that to the back of our minds) but if being able to live in their RL state makes players more likely to stay and more likely to invite friends, and more likely to therefore turn that state into a fortress state, then it is well worth the effort.

Getting New Players
The most recent efforts for a baby boom went from rather general statements about how it should happen to telling each citizen to invite a friend, maybe two. This is great as it brings in new blood and also starts them with an immediate link in game to help them. I'd like to offer other methods:

First, when inviting in less personal ways, use your referral link. This is good for them as I have made it part of my habit to check my 'track invites' every day. Nobody has joined from one of my referrals for awhile, but when they do I send them a message to explain some stuff and try to help them. Get used to doing that first.
This is also good for you as it means you get some gold when/if they reach level 6 (another reason to check your invites and help them) and you also work towards a society builder award, which is more gold.

Now to get those invites. Aside from personally inviting every friend you have, here are some things to consider:
You know those corkboards at some stores, work and all over college campuses with all sorts of activities and phone numbers at the bottom that you rip off? Make one for eRepublik and put your referral link at the bottom for people to rip off. Print some and post them all over campus/work/stores. I imagine libraries and other public buildings have these as well. Also put eRepublik.com on the main page so if all the links get ripped off that's still there.

For those of you with cash, you might consider Facebook ads. Again, use your referral link so if anyone joins, you get a bit of gold back and this could be viewed as an indirect sort of gold-buying operation. You can format the ads to target a specific audience (like a state that already has a good hospital in-game maybe) and also determine exactly what you want to spend on it so it doesn't bankrupt you. It seems eRepublik's demographic is mainly males from about 13-20, but this is just a guesstimate on my part. I am also aware of a female population on eRep more than most any other game I've ever played. Just some things to consider when making the ad.




Defense is important, however, we have been on offense for awhile now. It seems doubtful the Phoenix nations would launch an assault directly into the eUS without first undertaking an aggressive war to reclaim valuable high resource regions to fuel their war effort. With that in mind, I am all in favor of experimenting with matters and seeing how well some of these ideas work. As I see it the best case scenario is every US state booms into a superfortress and attacking us becomes absolute suicide. Worst case is we are perhaps a bit weaker next time some super alliance does come tearing through our regions (as well as not being able to retreat without fear to avoid blocks whenever necessary, again not something likely to happen for a bit) and we have to move citizens to a single fortress to try and put off/win that final battle. Ultimately the best defense is our population, nothing else.

Oh, by the way, it occurs to me that I'm still publishing in the Canadian media. I use the eUS as an example, simply because I subscribe to a lot of US papers and not so many Canadian ones. I think any of these ideas could also possibly help Canada as they seem to have a similar problem, though with fewer regions. Actually, just about any article talking about game mechanics or similar issues can likely apply to any country in the game.